I have a '37 Buick I've been working on for what seems like ever. Same old story, I either have time but no money to work on it or no time and still no money to work on it. It's been a long process and I allow things like work and health problems get into the way.

I also have a CNC router table I bought to make parts for projects in my business that I am supposed to make money at. It's a fairly expensive piece of equipment that doesn't get used most of the time and I need to get it to make me some money. In comes my old car project that I can use the CNC table for. The old Buicks came from the factory with vulcanized rubber running board covering applied directly to the boards. There are one or two places that can recover them like they did at the factory, probably better. They charge around $3K to do them plus shipping the big pieces of metal. Steele Rubber at one time made glue on rubber mats that came in two pieces. They came in two pieces because they poured the rubber into forms and their forms were not large enough to case an entire cover, to me they didn't look all that good.

Enter me with my CNC table. I figure how hard can it be to carve out a sheet of rubber on a CNC table? I search the net for guidance but found very little information, only that you can't carve rubber on a CNC table unless you freeze it hard first. No way am I going to freeze a nearly six foot long piece of rubber. Well, after months of trial and error, finding different types of rubber matting to use and different tooling and adhesives I am fairly certain I have found a way to accomplish what I set out to do. I have also made a few test pieces that I glued to pieces of metal and set outside my shop door for six months in all kinds of weather and heat and cold and having people step on them. They've held up very well with little to no signs of wear. I am sure running boards on a restored car will never see this type of abuse. Tonight I have made my first mat using what I think is the finally type of neoprene and the proper machine settings. I still need to sand out the machining marks and apply a rubber sealant but they look pretty dang good.

 

Thanks man I needed that

 

You're onto something there Bob...buying tools that exceed our current needs usually lead to discoveries like this, keep up the good work!
I have a pair of Bob Drake covers for my 40 that I have yet to install. I saw a video years ago that a guy on the HAMB posted on YouTube where he used butyl windshield adhesive to bond the covers to the running board. Do you have a preferred method?

 

That looks great!

 

Atta Boy Bob!
I'm glad that it's finally coming together. I knew you'd get it figured out. I can see lots of applications for this. I guess the hard part would be finding a decent donor part to get good measurements from.

Bobby

 

Thanks guy, once you get the old car, or truck, bug it's hard to control. My main interest is Bonus Builts but I've been known to dabble into the dark side if I can make a buck off of them. The Buick kind of fell into my lap about ten years ago. It was the only car my wife actually seemed to like. She's also a big fan of my F-2 but she likes the styling of the Buick.

I've been experimenting making these covers for a long time, seeing what kind of material works best and what can be used to adhere them to the boards. I read quite a few posts on different website about installing mats and many suggested using just plain contact cement like you can buy at the hardware store. I read about using windshield adhesive and others. I figured I'd try the easiest to find and cheapest first and it seems to be working very good. I made sample pieces that I glued two different types of rubber on a piece of metal and laying in front of my shop door. They've been sitting there, one for over six months through sun and heat and snow and cold and everything in between. I walk over them every day at least twice a day plus the others that come into my shop. I even have "walk on me" written on them. They are holding up really well, both the rubber and the contact cement. I figure the sample have seen more torture than the average restored old car board will ever see.

I have a set of '37 Buick Special running boards that I took exact measurement off of. I have others interested in them but for the different model Buicks which have longer wider boards. This might not be too much of a problem if I could just stretch the length and width of the mats but the Buick guys are super fussy and everything has to be exact to the 1/32th of the inch. I am going to try to reach out to some of the other model owners and see if they'll send me precise dimension. I'll send them a CAD drawing and see if someone can mark them up.

Once I get the Buick mats perfected I am planning to move onto other boards, including custom boards with custom lettering and images. I just have to get more familiar with the machine. I learn something new about it almost every time I use it.

 

That's great Bob! Are there other Buick owners out there that you could sell to and make a profit?

 

I am on a few FB vintage Buick boards, one I set up about five years ago, and I've posted pictures and there is a lot of interest in them. If I can sell them to make a profit that is yet to be seen. I have figure out the material costs, the supply costs; sandpaper, cleaners and sealer and the time it takes to set up the rubber in the machine. I'm a business man, maybe not a very good one but I try to calculate my costs and make sure I cover them and make a profit (I know, to some that's a dirty work). I also know what my competition will be. At least one place charges $3000+ to do the vulcanizing procedure, obviously the best way to go but out of most peoples budgets. Steele used to make them but no longer do. There are also the guys who might opt to go the big box store rubber hall runner route, many hot rodders do but the Buick guys are very particular on the parts they put on their Buicks. I hope to make a few bucks. I've spent a lot of time and money developing them.

 

I hope you do, Bob. It's always nice to make money to support our addiction.

 

That's how I've been doing it for literally decades. I've bought over 18 trucks and six '37-38 Buicks, most as parts vehicles and parted them out to get parts I needed and could eventually use and to make money to support my truck and Buick addictions. It is not a huge money maker. I figure I average about $5/hrs doing it. I get that by figuring in the time spent finding the vehicles, retrieving them, unloading them, dismantling, listing and storing and the eventual cut up and hauling away the carcasses to the scrapyard. You can't do this all for the money, I get a lot out of just by the adventure of the hunt, going to different parts of my state and nearby states, meeting interesting people, being with friends on road trips, tearing them apart (cars and trucks, not the friends) (although ) and finding hidden treasures.

 

I've done that too Bob, except I didn't go to other states. I've even bought stuff cheap on eBay knowing I could make money even with the shipping. And I was lucky to buy a lot of NOS Ford parts from a junkyard owner's daughter. She sold them cheap to me because I coached her son in soccer years ago. I also parted out a 52 F1 flatbed in the yard years ago.

Some of the stuff I sold cheap cause I needed the money quickly for one or both of my trucks.

 

Abe, I have many times hitched up my car trailer to the back of my truck to haul someone else's find back home for them. I will only do this for friends or people I personally know, all I ask is to cover my gas and a non-McDonalds meal. I am not going to use a day of my time and settle for two mismatched cheeseburgers and a soda, I need a sit down place where they take your order and the food is hopefully good. Never know how the food will be 150 from home. I've gone to Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan to retrieve cars and parts for myself and friends. My wife once asked me why I do it. She said what I get paid for gas doesn't cover my time and the wear and tear on my truck and trailer. I explained to her that I don't have much of a social life and not many friends but I do have a love of adventure and old vehicles. I consider my forays in retrieving rusty junk, and sometimes some pretty nice stuff, as my social event just bowling or hunting. Nothing like sitting in a truck for six hours with 2-3 other guys telling tales about the cars they had and the adventures they had with them. She kind of accepted that. Nothing like pulling an old car out from behind a barn or inside an old garage, Even better is if the seller of the vehicle is an old motorhead with an endless amount stories to tell about his adventure when he was younger. Just awesome

 

Bob, you saw where I live, no place to park a junker. I was lucky my friend Bill was dating a girl that had a farmette with a long equipment shed. We parked the 55 F600 I bought there that I used for the script bed.

 

I don't have much room on my 11 acre. I only have a two car attached garage, and a four car garage across from the house and a barn and my 30x50 shop If I run out of room I'm sure I can find some room on the farm.

I have to watch what I drag home, the wife can get a little upset if junk sits too long

 

I got the mat cemented to the board tonight. The board isn't the straightest so it may not be the best looking but I have a new board I built and as soon as I make another mat I'll glue it on the new board.